


Can You Hear Me?

by appldor



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Oneshot, also the others make a brief appearances (sort of), ft jeremy shada's cover of Lucky, klance is stupid, pidge is nb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 17:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9000856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appldor/pseuds/appldor
Summary: Lance finds a guitar. Well, sort of.  Keith loves it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a secret santa gift for my friend Adri!! I hope you like it dude!!! also i didn't have time to beta it bc of work but i'll probably come back and tweak it in a couple days

The hallway is dark and quiet when Keith exits the training room. His footsteps echo softly, nearly inaudible, as he makes his way towards the kitchen. It’s late he thinks, but he can’t really tell. Time flows differently on the ship.

Allura made a big fuss at breakfast telling everyone that they had the day off -- “You all deserve it!” she said, “Defending the entire universe can be a little exhausting. I’ve managed to find a safe place from the Galra, so we should be out of their reach for a few days which gives me enough time to plan another mission. However!” she points her finger up in the air, “Do not take think that I won’t be expecting you all to conduct individual training in your own time. We may be able to rest, but the Galra do not.”

Keith, unused to this freedom, decided to heed Allura’s word and continue his day per normal which normally revolved around training anyway, but this time he was alone. The session felt even better than usual since he didn’t have Allura or Coran breathing down his neck, allowing him to practice at his own pace.

_Mmm maybe I should grab some food before taking a break…_

He doesn’t know how long he’s been training for, but upon walking into the kitchen his stomach growls when he sees the leftovers from what was apparently lunch.

_Looks like Hunk managed to cook today. Is that… ham? Leg? Meat. Looks like meat. But knowing the ship it sure won’t taste like it._

Grabbing a cup, he puts it underneath a water dispenser, and muses upon a conversation that took place between Lance and Pidge during one of their first nights on the ship.

\---

“Lance, you know water is just water, right?”

“Yeah, but everything sounds cooler when you add space to it. So it’s not water, but rather, space-water”, he makes a show of flashing his hands, “and like, instead of goo, it’s now space-goo.

“...Ok.” Pidge is skeptic.

“Technically I’m not wrong you know. It is water and we are in space.”

“You’ve made your point space-man. Shut up and drink your space-water.”

Keith laughs softly, and walks out of the kitchen drinking his space-water.

\--

On the way back to his room, _might as well take a nap then since I trained more today_ , Keith hears the faint noise of what seems to be a song coming from the hallway. He follows it, and finds himself heading in the direction of the common room -- it was the name the paladins all mutually agreed to call the enormous room they lounged around in after missions -- with the sound of a guitar and someone singing resounding out into the castle. _Where the hell did a guitar come from?_

While he walked, the voice became more vibrant and clear. He could hear a mildly sluggish, yet loud rendition of ‘I’m Yours’ winding down, as he got closer to the room.

With his hands on the wall near the door, Keith sticks his head into the room. _Thank god for aliens and their silent doors._

As luck would have it, on the couch near the middle of the room was no other than Lance himself lying down, casually strumming out the chords to the next song. His eyes were closed, head leaning on the back of the chair. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts, fiddling with the guitar without a care in the world. The melodies were warm and soothing, flowing through Keith’s ears like honey. He was mesmerised. Lance’s usually exuberant personality seemed to be a bit… subdued. This was a quiet moment, shared between the two boys; a rare encounter. _If only Allura and Shiro could see us now._

As Lance began to sing, Keith recognised the next song with a little twinge in his heart.

_"Can you hear me? I’m talking to you._  
_Across the water~ across the deep, blue,_  
_Ocean... under the open sky, oh my, baby I’m trying…"_

_Oh_ , Keith thinks, _what a sweet voice. So kind, and homey, and wow I forgot how catchy this song is_. Its melodies capture an inexplicable sweetness. Keith usually doesn’t think of Earth, nor does he remotely miss it, but sometimes it’s moments like these that remind him of the little things that he can no longer experience -- waking up in the morning to the glow of a rising sun with the harmonious birdsong, or feeling the cool refreshing breeze running through his hair.

_"Boy I hear you, in my dreams,_  
_I feel you whisper, across the sea._  
_I keep you with me, in my heart,_  
_You make it easier when life gets hard."_

_Haha… He’s singing a duet by himself? How cute._ He ducks back into the corridor and sits down, leaning back against the wall. It wouldn’t hurt to listen for a little while, right? Keith’s tired and Lance’s music sounds nice. Listening to it makes his brain slow down... Makes him contemplate ‘home’. He closes his eyes, and sees himself on a beach, somewhere on Earth. The draft of the hallway he sits in, washes over him like the refreshing ocean breeze. He can hear the waves crash, mingling with the laughter of what seems to be Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk enjoying themselves in the water. Turning his head, sees Coran and Allura, the former sitting underneath an umbrella. He doesn’t look very happy, his red face contorting into a disgruntled look. Allura turns to face him and laughs. _I wonder if we’ll get to go back after all this ‘defending the universe’ stuff is done._

 

\-----

Before he realises it, Keith finds himself singing along. The words naturally roll off his tongue, shifting themselves with ease into the song.

_"They don’t know how long it takes, waiting for a love like this._  
_Every time we say goodbye, I wish we had one more kiss._  
_I’ll wait for you, I’ll promise you, I will… "_

Keith finds himself falling deeper in thought. He finds himself back at the beach, sun beating down on him, unforgiving and unrelenting.

 _It could be worse_ , he thought. _Thank god for the hat. Wait… hat?_

He turns to his side and sees Lance staring at him, with a million dollar smile. Keith reaches up to his head, and brings the hat into view. He recognises it as one of Lance’s - _of course Lance would own this; who else would want an ugly galaxy snapback with a garish OBEY written on the front._

“Uh.. this is your hat?”

“Good observation there Keith.”

“Why did you put it on my head?”

“You looked a little uncomfortable there man. Should’ve brought something for yourself to keep the sun out of your eyes.”

His heart flutters a little. _How touching_.

“But what about you?”

“Nah I’m good - used to it yanno.”

Reluctantly, Keith replies, “If you say so.”

They sit in silence, admiring the view. It’s not long before Keith turns to Lance and just _stares_. Damn it, he looks really good as well. The wind is running through his hair, and he’s got this peaceful, fond expression on his face, while staring at the shore. He looks content sitting here, happy to be back at home on Earth.

“Hey, Lance”

An affirmative grunt comes from him. He’s still staring out into the distance.

“I have a question.”

“Well then, shoot.” His voice sounds distant, like he himself was thinking about something. _What a detailed daydream..._

“Why aren’t you down by the water with everyone else? I’m sure you’d have more fun with them than just sitting here with me.”

A beat passes, before Lance tilts his head back and laughs. Keith can see the little wrinkles by his eyes, and the softness of his face. He can see the crows feet that will eventually form later down the track, probably to Lance’s disdain. He thinks that Lance will age well, like fine wine.

_Damn it. Those facemasks really aren’t for nothing then. And he looks really cute laughing like that._

“I’m not really sure man… I mean… being with them is fun and all, but sometimes you just gotta wind down and relax, yeah?” He turns to face Keith. “I like it. Being here with you I mean, since it’s quiet.” He faces back out towards the sea, “It reminds me of being at home with my family.”

Keith stammers, face flushing red, “O-oh. I see.” More silence passes between them, before Keith interrupts with a, “I… like being here with you as well.”

His heart starts to race, _why am I saying this, real life Keith would never-_

“Also Keith, don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at me the entire time.”

His face flushed red again, and Keith felt warm. _Oh_.

\--

Trapped in a myriad of his idyllic thoughts, Keith failed to realise the song had stopped.

“Hellooo? Knock knock.” Lance made a knocking motion with his hand against Keith’s head, “Is Keith home? Earth to Ke- wait no, space to Keith? Are you with me buddy?”

_Great job genius he caught you._

“Uhhh, yeah- sorry. Hi Lance. You can cut that out now.”

“Alright neato cheeto, hello to you too. I have a question - was that you singing just then?”

 _Shit he heard me. Time to go._ “N-no what are you talking about? I was just coming back from training. Heading to my room right now actually.”

“Oh really?” Lance didn’t looked convinced. “So why are you sitting out here in the corridor singing along to Jason Mraz?”

“I-it wasn’t me I think you might’ve gotten me confused with someone else.” Keith stammers.

If eyebrows could fly, Lance’s would be nowhere to be seen. “Look, dude, I know it was you - there’s no one else around. Honestly, for a second though I thought it might’ve been Hunk since he strikes me as the kind of guy to-”

“Lance.” he said abruptly, “You’re rambling. And I really should go.”

“But Allura gave us the day off.” Lance whined. “Chill with me instead of holing yourself up in your room for the rest of the day.”

“Lance…”

“Pleeeease?” _Here he starts with the puppy dog eyes…_ “Pretty, pretty, please Keith? I’m bored. Everyone else seems to be busy doing something important.” He could practically see Lance emoting the sad emoji. “We can kick back with some Jason Mraz and this ‘guitar’ thing I found. It seems like you know the lyrics to ‘Lucky’ anyway, and it’d be nice to finish it as a proper duet… singing for two parts by yourself is really hard. Please.”

“What makes you think I’m going to do nothing important in my room?”

“Keith we’ve been living here with each other for a while now, I know you. Like I said before, you’re just going to stay in your room and do nothing.”

 _Fuck he got me there._ Keith thought about it for a bit. He could hear two little Keith’s arguing on his shoulders -- He couldn’t even tell which was one was supposed to be the devil and the angel.

“You dumbass! You’re gonna blow your cover! If you stay, Lance is going to find out you have a big, fat, gay crush on him.”

“Yeah, but his voice is really nice… It wouldn’t hurt to stay for a while…”

“What point of _finding out about your crush on him_ do you not understand?!”

“...He did offer us and I know this isn’t the first time I’ve rejected his efforts, but Allura did give us the day off...”

 _Screw this_ , “I’m not sure...” real Keith replied.

“Aw, come on man. Live a little. I want to hear more of that voice.. You’ve been hiding it from all of us. Singing a song with me honestly won’t kill you”

“It might.”

“Oh my god dude, shut up and get in here.” Lance grabs Keith’s arm - _His hand is warm_ \- and unceremoniously dumps him on the couch. Keith’s shoulders are hunched over, and makes him look smaller than he actually is. Lance sits next to him, crossing his legs on the couch and leans on Keith.

“Hey buddy, are you ok? You look really tense.” Lance lets out a little chuckle. “It’s just a song.”

Reluctantly letting out a, “I’m fine Lance just play already”, Keith grits his teeth and forces himself to relax.

_Stupid Lance and his cute smile and his perfect hair and his smooth flawless skin. I hate him. Why is he like this…_

Before his brain could even register he was talking, Keith asks, “Wait a second, where did you get a guitar from? Last time I checked there aren’t guitars in space.”

“Au contraire mi amigo,” _Did he just mix Spanish and French?_ “There is! Well, technically, this isn’t a guitar,” Lance gestures, to… something.

“Is that a box sitting in your lap?” Keith asks.

Shrugging, Lance fiddles with something hidden from Keith’s view, “I forgot what Coran called it but it sounds like a guitar doesn’t it? It took me a while to fiddle with the controls to make the right sounds but yeah. I was bored one day and snooped around on the ship. Long story short I found it in a storage room full of Altean junk.”

“Oh. Ok then. Neat.”

“Now without further ado…”

Lance begins to play again, starting from the end of the second chorus. His voice begins low, and soft,

_“And so I’m sailing, through the sea.._  
_To an island where we’ll meet.”_

Lance turns slightly to face Keith, and stares directly at him. Taking his hands off the guitar-box, he pretends to pick a flower from the air, with the melody continuing on in the background, following along with the song.

_“You’ll feel the music in the air,_  
_I’ll put a flower in your hair.”_

Gently, he cups Keith’s cheek, turning his head to the side and pretends to place an imaginary flower resting in his hair. Lance thinks of a lily flower. Simple in its beauty, yet enthralling, just like Keith.

Keith blushes even harder. He can feel the heat rising from the bottom of his neck, and the blood pounding through his ears.

 _Don’t tell me he’s being serious right now_. Lance smiles encouragingly, eyes crinkling.

Trying to avoid them, Keith stutters out his part of the verse.

_“T-through the breezes, through the trees_  
_Move so pretty, you’re all I see._  
_As the world keeps spinning round,_  
_You hold me, right here right now.”_

The song continues, and Keith finds himself trying to harmonies with Lance in the chorus instead of simply singing along. _Ah. Just like the daydream. He looks content._ The latter has returned to playing the guitar-box, eyes closed and tapping his foot along to the beat.

As it ends, the room becomes quiet. Keith is lost for words. He doesn’t know what to do. He tries to muster up the courage to say something but instead, resorts to clasping his hands open and closed. Lance of course, saves the moment by talking.

“You’re really pretty Keith.”

Alarm sirens go off in his head. _Brain to Keith, I repeat, brain to Keith. What the actual FUCK is going on?!_

“Uh… thanks Lance. You too, I guess.”

“Oh my fu-” Exasperated, Lance leans over and kisses Keith, cutting himself off.

Keith’s breath is caught in his throat, and his brain short circuits. If Lance wasn’t so obviously distracted, he swears he could’ve seen the sparks flying out of Keith’s ears.

It was a quick peck on the lips, but a kiss nonetheless. His heart is hammering in his chest, and he can’t hear anything but the rush of blood running in his ears. _Lance’s lips were unsurprisingly not dry, even in space he has moisturised lips? What the fuck man._

Backing off from the other man, Lance begins with, “I, have never! Ever! Met someone as dense as you Keith!” He huffs his chest, voice getting continually higher, “I have been giving you these signs for months now! Months! Do we even have months in space?! Anyway! I’ve been waiting for you to make a move for ages dude and you still didn’t get the picture. Until now I guess, right?”

Dumbfounded, Keith sits there in silence looking like a deer caught in headlights. The cogs in his head are slowly… slowly turning again, and his heart begins to hammer into motion. _Oh. He wants a reply._

“I… Uh... What?” It seems like the cogs needed a bit more time.

“You’re hopeless dude.” Lance shakes his head, resting them in the palms of his hands. “A lost cause. There is no hope for me, Lance McClain, as it appears that I happen to like an idiot. The best pilot of our generation my ass.”

 _Wait a second._ “You like me?!”

“Keith. Not to state the obvious or anything but like I literally just serenaded you. And you joined along.” Getting increasingly frustrated, Lance gestures to Keith’s hair, “I put a fucking imaginary flower in your hair!”

“Oh” _Oh. No wonder. Mmm feels nice._

Lance replies with a mocking, “Oh” in return. However his face starts to relax as he says, “You do have a nice voice though. Your singing is very cute. Endearing even.”

“...Thanks man.”  
  
They both sit there quietly, silence lingering around with an awkwardness emanating from Lance who now seems to be the unsure one, but as always, is the first to break the ice.

“So… Are you going to say anything more than 2 words or did I read the signs wrong?”

“No no no!” Keith quickly interjects, “I… like you as well…”

“Oh! Good. Now I can do this then.” Lance says, and holds Keith’s hand with a smile.

“What are we now then?” Keith asks.

“I’m not sure. Boyfriends? Or did you want to take it slow? I mean it’ll be hard to go on dates and stuff since our resources are kind of limited.”

“Mmm I really don’t mind. Boyfriends it is then. Also since we’re in space, wouldn’t they be counted as _space-dates_?”

Lance gasps, “Oh my god you remember that?”

Finally looking at Lance for the first time since the kiss, Keith’s face lights up with a smile in confirmation, cheeks high and eyes bright, as he sees the overly dramatic and scandalous look on his now boyfriend’s face.

“If we go on space-dates then”, Keith asks, “would we, in _theory_ , be called space-boyfriends?”

“Keith… my man. You really are someone after my own heart.” He clutches his chest dramatically, “Yes. _We’d be space-boyfriends_.”

Keith laughs, and leans into him. A sense of contentment and peace settled inside of him. _Fuzzy_ , he thinks, and wonders if Lance feels the same, (he does).

The rest of the day passes in a haze. The two boys sit so close together on the couch. Keith’s head leans against Lance’s chest, feeling it rumble every time he laughs. They talk about absolutely everything and nothing, their hopes and dreams, possibilities that may never get the chance to realise themselves. It’s not until they are _so rudely interrupted, Pidge_ , that they realise how time has passed. Keith’s stomach grumbles in annoyance. If it could talk it would complain and say, _dude. I’m hungry. Let’s fucking eat some space goo already_. Keith would much rather spend more time alone with Lance, but judging from the latter’s playful, “It is time to feed the space-beast” while patting his belly, he was hungry as well.

Standing up, Lance brushes his hand against Keith’s, giving him a knowing look, and follows Pidge to the dining hall. Acting against his better judgement, _fuck it dude_ , Keith grabs Lance’s hands and runs in front of Pidge, much to their chagrin.

“You guys are gross, you know that right?” Their voice is unamused, but the smile on their face says otherwise.

“Yeah we know,” says Lance, “but you love us anyway. If not we’d be dead by now.”

“Hm. Debatable.”

Keith smiles. Despite the fact that he may be stuck in space millions and millions of miles away from Earth, risking his life to defend the universe, he’s managed to find his own home in a new family out here in space.

He feels... lucky.

**Author's Note:**

> As u can see this was inspired by Jeremy Shada’s cover of Lucky (im sure i’m not the only one who felt inspired its a good song) and i was thinking about it for ages until i had the motivation to write it as a gift. I hope u enjoyed it and happy holidays my dudes!!!!


End file.
